LinkedIn Connection Request Limit and Lead Generation... ☹️
Updated: Apr 20, 2022
So for all you entrepreneurs out there trying to build your businesses and an audience on LinkedIn - this effects you... When I joined LinkedIn there was a much higher limit to the amount of people you could reach out to and connect with - in order to pitch and drive your sales funnel. I've been lucky and managed to build a network of over 12k before the big change! LinkedIn has now has capped the weekly limit for connection requests to 100 invitations per week.
To put that into context, in the good old days (a few months ago) you could make:
20 connection requests a day on a free account
Up to 100 requests a day on a paid account
And up to 225 requests a day if you pay for Sales Navigator
So this is a huge restriction!
I guess this is LinkedIn's way of stopping the use of automation software to build huge connection bases very quickly... If you are still trying to build a huge audience on this platform I suggest switching to "creator mode" and turn your connect button into a follow button. But you have to be active and posting insightful content for your audience to grow!
A limit of 100 connections a week isn't going to affect the vast majority of people. But it will affect you if you're attempting to build a big audience on LinkedIn and build a relationship with it.
LinkedIn suggests to avoid getting restricted from sending invitations:
Only send invitations to people you know and trust.
Provide context by adding a personalised message with your invitation, explaining how you know the recipient, or why you'd like to connect with them.
Use InMail and Groups to network with LinkedIn members you don't know.
Ensure recipients can recognise you by updating the information displayed on your profile. Adding a profile photo will increase the credibility of your profile, and it will also help you stand out from the crowd."
What are the alternatives for lead generation on LinkedIn?
Content is King. LinkedIn’s algorithm has been optimised to favour content that engages the community. Try to increase “dwell time”, put an engaging image to attract attention, work on your “catchphrase” so that it makes you want to read the rest and let share your knowledge.
long form content vs short form. Analysis on the correlation between engagement and content length shows that lengthy content gets more reactions. With focus on dwell time, a lengthy piece of content is more likely to perform well since it will take longer to read.
Tag people. To provoke engagement and increase reach of your LinkedIn posts, you need to tag a few people to spark interaction. It’s essential to tag people you know will respond quickly because LinkedIn’s algorithm favours posts that generate engagement quickly.
Content with hyperlinks on LinkedIn is now significantly penalised. I used to reach 1000's of views a few months ago with a post linking to my blog, I now notice a significant decrease.
